CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 1

CVER

Annual Report

2013

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 2

Table of Contents

1. Message from the Outgoing Director

Message from the Incoming Director

2. Partners

2.1. Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC)

2.2. Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (CAHS)

2.3. Maritime Quality Milk (MQM)

2.4. The Canadian Regulatory Veterinary Epidemiology Network (CRVE-Net)

2.5. Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC)

2.6. Shellfish Research Group (SRG)

2.7. Smallholder Dairy Research Group (SDRG)

3. New Faculty

4. Special Guests

5. Awards and Recognition

6. Graduate Program Highlights

7. Outreach

8. Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

9. Books/Book Chapters

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 3

1. Message from the Outgoing Director

2013 marked the last year of my 2-year commitment to be CVER

Director following Ian Dohoo’s retirement in 2011. I am very grateful

to John VanLeeuwen for agreeing to take over the position for the

next 2 years, and for his help in developing a succession plan for

future Directors involving a 2-year rotation. This new strategy will

ensure the continuing success of CVER research and educational

activities while ensuring that the leadership role is more widely

shared among members.

2013 was another successful year with many of the details provided in

subsequent pages. Highlights for 2013 were the completion of 3 Epi-

on-the-Island courses, the hiring of Javier Sanchez as a full-time tenure-track faculty member at

the Atlantic Veterinary College, numerous awards among faculty and graduate students, and

most importantly, the graduation of many PhD and MSc students located within various CVER

partner groups, thanks to the mentoring and commitment to excellence of my CVER colleagues.

Finally, I would like to thank Leanne Newson for 4 years of dedicated service to CVER, CERC, and

CRVENet, and I wish her success in her new role in the UPEI Climate Change Lab.

Best wishes,

Ian Gardner

Message from Incoming Director

I would like to heartily thank Ian Gardner for his fine leadership as

CVER Director during the last couple of years. He has worked hard to

ensure that CVER remains strong during the post-Dohoo transition.

Fortunately, we still have Ian Dohoo as part of the CVER team part-

time, as a Professor Emeritus. It is indeed an honour to follow “The

Ians” as Director of CVER, as we continue to have among the best and

most successful Veterinary Epidemiology programs worldwide. With a

fantastic CVER team, we will continue to grow and flourish as very

bright lights in an eye-catching research constellation at UPEI. We hope

you enjoy reading some details below.

Cheers!

John VanLeeuwen

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 4

2. Partners:

2.1. Canada Excellence Research Chair – by Dr. Ian Gardner

In 2013, the CERC in aquatic epidemiology continued to build capacity

through the addition of 2 post-doctoral fellows (Annette Boerlage and

Juan Aguirre Garcia), and based on plans mapped out at our October visioning meeting, CERC

will add the following positions in 2014: an e-learning coordinator, a research scientist in

shellfish/crustacean epidemiology, and 2 more post-docs with a focus in molecular

epidemiology and disease ecology of wild aquatic animals. Two AVC faculty members, Mark

Fast and Javier Sanchez, joined the CERC team, contributing their research expertise in

infectious diseases and risk analysis. I am indebted to Leanne Newson, our previous

Administrative Project Manager, for her valuable contributions to organizational, financial and

logistical management during the first 2.5 years of the CERC program; she greatly helped to

ensure that the program had a strong start and continued growth, despite early challenges.

Post-Doc Annette Boerlage exploring

research opportunities on a oyster farm in

Halong Bay, Vietnam (photo taken by Larry

Hammell)

The CERC program continues to grow in Canada with collaborative projects on both coasts. On

the west coast, collaborations with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the salmon

industry include work on pathogen exchange between wild and farm fish, and on sea lice

management plans, including use of hydrodynamic modeling of sea lice infestations. On the

east coast, the focus in salmon aquaculture has been epidemiologic studies of sea lice,

infectious salmon anemia, and bacterial kidney disease. The CERC has funded research on the

production and health of oysters and mussels in PEI to supplement the ongoing activities of Jeff

Davidson and Sophie St-Hilaire. Through the CRVENet program (see that section in this report),

funding has been used to collaborate with the CFIA aquatic surveillance and epidemiology

section for projects on syndromic surveillance methods and risk pathways applied to

investigations on the introduction and spread of Multinucleate Sphere X (MSX) in PEI.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 5

Internationally, the CERC has contributed research and graduate student/postdoctoral funding

to support sea lice research in Norway and Chile, salmon rickettsial syndrome in Chile (Gabriel

Arriagada and Derek Price, graduate students), and aquatic epidemiology in China (Jia Beibei,

PhD student). In Vietnam and Thailand, the CERC has explored research opportunities in finfish

and shrimp disease epidemiology, and is working

toward establishing research projects in 2014. Finally,

10 seed grants funded in 2012 are nearing completion,

and an additional round of funding is scheduled in

March 2014 focusing on high-risk high-reward projects

that have the potential to garner extramural funding

and include mentoring of early-career scientists by UPEI

faculty members.

Jia Beibei interviews a grass carp farmer in Hubei Province, China as part of her research

2.2. Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (CAHS) – by Dr. Larry Hammell

The Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences at the Atlantic Veterinary College is a centre of expertise

in aquatic epidemiology and disease intervention for the finfish aquaculture industry. It leads

multi-stakeholder projects using epidemiological techniques to improve the long-term health

management practices for farmed fish. In

addition, AVC-CAHS provides evidence-based

health management analysis to guide policy

decisions for all levels of government, and

internationally. It operates two field research

sites located in St. Alban’s, NL and St. George, NB.

This past year has been another remarkable year for the organization. The group continues to

work in both New Brunswick (NB) and Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), engaged in the

monitoring of sea lice population, field trials for sea lice treatments, as well as a clinical field

trial to identify risk factors associated with disease occurrence, specifically Bacterial Kidney

Disease (BKD) and Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). The retrospective analysis of farm

production and health records that was initiated in the fall 2012 continued through 2013 and is

focused on the identification of risk factors and control of BKD and ISA across the Atlantic

Canada region over the past 5-7 years.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 6

The field trials of commercial vaccines under NL production conditions continued in 2013. Our

group implanted passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in an additional population of 6,000

Atlantic salmon in a NL hatchery destined for offshore marine sites. These fish were

randomized to 7 different vaccines; including a bacterial kidney disease (BKD) vaccine. These

study fish were transferred to NL marine sites in June 2013 where they are being monitored by

our group in collaboration with NL Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) until their

harvest in late 2014.

The CAHS-developed FishiTrends (FiT), an evidence-based-epidemiological database platform

used to monitor fish health and sea lice pest management programs in the Bay of Fundy,

reached another milestone this year. The production version: “Fish-i-Trends.com,” has been

accepted by aquaculture producers in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in summer 2013, the

Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, along with NB fish farmers, signed a 3-year

agreement to utilize the “Fish-i-Trends.com” platform throughout their member farms.

Researchers continue to work on a follow-up version of

the software platform with enhanced geographic

information system (GIS) capabilities, upgrades to

supporting software, and the integration of

aquaculture production sites in Nova Scotia. These

capabilities support the CAHS mission of providing

sound science to inform fish health policy decisions

based on near real-time inputs. It is anticipated that

the upgraded platform will provide decision support

across a spectrum of fish health management activities

for the finfish aquaculture industry throughout Atlantic

Canada by the end of 2014.

The CAHS-delivered “Sea Lice Identification Course and Certification” continues to be a popular

offering for producer companies and site workers. In 2013, CAHS delivered this hands-on

course to 35 aquaculture farm staff in a series of small-group one-day seminars and labs.

The 2012 rainbow trout (RBT) study population grew well in the marine conditions and was

successfully harvested in fall 2013, providing a useful dataset (currently being analyzed).

Activities under the Integrated Sea Lice Monitoring Project in NB were completed in March

2013, and the project was not funded for the 2013-14 research season. In its four seasons of

activity, this project provided industry-leading assessments of sea lice population trends across

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 7

the New Brunswick aquaculture industry, and independent monitoring of the effectiveness

trends for bath and in-feed treatments. This project was a success, and the data captured using

the DSS platform provided important evidence to support decisions on emergency release and

eventual registration of chemotherapeutic and pesticide products for use in the NB aquaculture

industry. This monitoring program also contributed to the detection of sub-optimal conditions

leading to further sea lice burdens at a site or area level.

After two years of Government of NB support, CAHS discontinued its program of audits of sea

lice prevalence at active finfish production sites in the Bay of Fundy. Results in both 2012 and

2011 were similar, with producers continuing to demonstrate significant commitment to self-

management and accurate sea lice reporting. Expansion of the program to NL has been

proposed, and a preliminary data quality assessment review was completed in 2013. Any

decision on an audit program in NL will await the full deployment of the FishiTrends platform.

2.3. Maritime Quality Milk (MQM) – by Dr. Greg Keefe

Maritime Quality Milk (www.milkquality.ca) is the dairy research and service program of the

Atlantic Veterinary College for the Atlantic Canadian provinces. MQM focuses on milk quality

and infectious disease research. By integrating research and service capacity, MQM has

become one of the leading dairy health centers in Canada. The past year was a very successful

one for the program. Several long-term projects continued to generate excellent outcomes,

new projects with tremendous potential were initiated, and a number of proposals were

funded and will begin over the next several years.

The largest single project of 2013 was the Atlantic Johne’s

Disease Initiative (AJDI) (www.atlanticjohnes.ca). This

program is co-funded by the four Atlantic Dairy Boards, the

four regional ADAPT Councils (AAFC) and UPEI/AVC/MQM through the Innovation Research

Chair program, for a total of 1.2 million dollars over 3 years. The program is the most successful

of all the Johne's initiatives across Canada, with 70% of herds voluntarily participating. AJDI is

industry driven with a steering (oversight) committee representing the funding partners, and a

scientific committee of University scientists and private veterinary practitioners. Seven people

from AVC work on the program full or part-time, and approximately 50 veterinarians and

veterinary technicians provide contract services around the region. The program provides data

for one PhD graduate student (Dr. Karen MacDonald-Phillips). The success of AJDI has

motivated the regional dairy industry to sponsor a more comprehensive health monitoring and

planning initiative called "Atlantic Health Herds" (below).

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 8

Building on the success of the AJDI program, in 2013, the three Maritime dairy boards

sponsored a research program for Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV). This program has partner

funding by AAFC through the ADAPT/CAPP program and provides data for the graduate

program of Dr. Omid Nekouei. His research indicates that the rising prevalence of BLV

represents an increasing challenge to the regional industry and could further damage our dairy

genetics industry if left unchecked.

MQM continues to work on non-antibiotic based dry cow therapy protocols. The graduate

student on this project, Dr. Marguerite Cameron, is nearing completion of her PhD program.

Results indicate that cows treated with a non-antibiotic alternative to dry cow antibiotics had a

similar new infection rate to antibiotic treated animals.

In the past year, MQM completed a major contract for the Dairy Farmers of Canada (through

the mastitis network) on variation in bulk milk iodine. For this project, Dr. Greg Keefe led a

team of 8 researchers from 5 Universities and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, examining risk

factors for elevated milk iodine in the Canadian milk supply. Dr. Kimberley MacDonald was a

part-time post-doctoral fellow coordinating the project.

Dr. Carrie Lavers successfully defended her PhD in 2013. Her

project has revolutionized how we make herd classification of

Johne's infection risk and is highly supportive of the model

employed by AJDI. Dr. Emilie Laurin is a PhD graduate student

on a second project focused on cow-level Johne's testing. Her

data provides interesting insights into cow shedding (culture)

and antibody production (ELISA) for known infected cows

over a year period. The project has provided some excellent

data on the relative value of blood ELISA, milk ELISA, fecal

culture and fecal PCR.

MQM provides both scientific and administrative support to a project examining use of infrared

technology in immunoglobulin-based diagnostics. Dr. Ibrahim Elsohaby is the dairy PhD student

on the project. Ibrahim has generated excellent results for the system in stored bovine serum.

Internationally, MQM continues to work with researchers in Colombia on milk quality

challenges in that country. Dr. Julian Reyes, who has stipend funding from Innovation PEI and

the Colombian government, is the PhD student on the project, which is examining the

epidemiology of Streptococcus agalactiae.

MQM is a substantial partner on 3 successful Dairy Farmers of Canada/AAFC Dairy Cluster

program applications which will span 2013-2018. MQM will lead one project on diagnosis of

coagulase negative staphylococci and participates in five more for the Canadian Bovine Mastitis

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 9

Research Network. Additional cluster projects will see MQM oversee validation of an on-farm

cow comfort analysis system in the Maritimes in collaboration with colleagues in British

Columbia. MQM is also a core member of a national dairy disease biosurveillance project lead

by the University of Guelph.

Based on the success of the AJDI program, the four Atlantic Dairy organizations supported the

development of a broader "Healthy Herds" program for the region. The initial phases (2014-

2018) of Atlantic Healthy Herds will incorporate research and control programs for 6 health

issues within the dairy industry: Johne's, Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Viral Diarrhea,

Lameness, Calf Health and Internal Parasites. Program funding is currently under review.

In addition to our more academically driven pursuits, MQM does contract research for the

local, national and international dairy industries. Two highlights in 2013 were the initiation of a

regulatory trial for an international dairy equipment and supply company, and a study of milk

casein in bulk tank milk for Amalgamated Dairies Limited (ADL) and the Dairy Farmers of PEI.

Casein is important for optimizing cheese quality and quantity. Cheese production is a core

business of ADL, which is a key contributor to the provincial economy.

MQM continues to provide web-based access to regulatory quality, and payment data to all

farms in the Maritimes through its graphical analysis program. In 2013, the program was

upgraded for Smartphone-based applications for the system. The MQM laboratory supports

our research and service mandate. The laboratory maintains USDA-proficiency accreditation

for 5 different testing methods for Johne’s disease (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis). It is the

only lab in Canada to have all 5 of these certifications.

2.4. The Canadian Regulatory Veterinary Epidemiology Network (CRVE-Net) –

by Dr. Javier Sanchez

Led by CVER, the Canadian Regulatory Veterinary Epidemiology Network (CRVE-Net) links

Canada’s five veterinary schools, and contributes to the development of research and training

programs at the five universities. CRVE-Net was originally funded for a three year term in 2009

and then renewed for a one-year extension of funding from the Canadian Food Inspection

Agency (CFIA). Given the importance and accomplishments obtained during those early years,

in 2013, CRVE-net was renewed for another three years with $450,000. Terms of reference

outlining the governance of the network going forward has been created and approved by CFIA.

In 2013, CRVE-Net implemented an Expert Advisory Committee in Aquatic Animal Health

(EACAAH) and an Expert Advisory Committee in Terrestrial Animal Health (EACTAH), at the

request of our funder.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 10

In September 2012, a new graduate course in quantitative risk analysis was developed by CRVE-

Net, under the leadership of Dr. Javier Sanchez. Following its delivery, an on-line version of this

course was proposed and accepted by the Department of Health Management at AVC. This on-

line course was first offered during the Fall of 2013, and it is expected to now be offered twice a

year. It covers the basic models and approaches to developing a quantitative risk model applied

to animal health and food safety risks . This course addresses CFIA’s goal for more expertise in

quantitative risk assessment among veterinary epidemiologists in Canada.

CRVE-net is also working very closely with the CERC program to support surveillance and risk

modeling activities of interest to CFIA in aquatic epidemiology.

In addition, five other proposals related to “One Health” and zoonotic diseases have been

approved for CRVE-Net activities at the other four Canadian veterinary schools.

2.5. Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) – by Dr. Michael Cockram

The SJDAWC promotes animal welfare through research, service and education. The 9th annual

Animal Welfare in Practice conference was held

on Companion Animal Behaviour in September.

The presentations (available at www.awc.pe/ca)

focused on common behaviour issues, their

impact on welfare, and the importance of positive

interactions in the prevention and management

of problems. National Farm Animal Care Council

Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of

Equines and Sheep received input from the

SJDAWC and were published in 2013. Animal welfare research projects received input from

CVER members: Drs. Dohoo, Revie and Stryhn and graduate student projects continue on the

transport of broiler chickens and horses. Jackie Ellis received the Gold award for Animal Health

Research for her presentation on cat welfare at the AVC Annual Graduate Studies and Research

Day and Ketan Dulal received the Bronze award for his presentation on broiler chicken handling

and transport. Dr. Radi Ali Mohamed Ali was a post-doctoral visitor from Kafrelsheikh

University, Egypt. Whitney Kelly-Clark and Meghan Woodland received graduate degrees based

on work funded by the SJDAWC. Please see www.upei.ca/awc for more information and the

2013 annual report.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 11

2.6. Shellfish Research Group (SRG) – by Dr. Jeff Davidson

In 2013, the Shellfish Research Group completed a number of research projects including CERC

funded projects: “Evaluation of relay stations for reducing Norovirus and male-specific

coliphage in oysters grown in Prince Edward Island” led by Dr. Jeff Davidson; “Characterization

of shellfish movements in Prince Edward Island for risk simulation model” led by Dr. Javier

Sanchez; and “Animals, water and public health in Vietnam” led by Drs. David Hall (U. of

Calgary) and Jeff Davidson. The Vietnam project led to the funding of a large-scale project

funded by Grand Challenges Canada.

Dr. Davidson continues to participate in a research project in partnership with health

management officials in South and Southeast Asia, with the goal of building the capacity for

research and practice in ecosystem approaches to health in Southeast Asia. The hypothesis for

this project is that bringing individuals together from different countries and institutions with

an array of experience and expertise in health promotion, public health, and the prevention of

emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) will enable participants to investigate and respond more

effectively to complex ecosystem health issues, with a particular focus on EIDs.

Drs. McNiven and St-Hilaire completed their green crab project, funded by Innovation PEI, and

published on the nutritional content and distribution of the species on PEI. Research continued

into oyster production in the Hillsborough River with an Honours Biology student, Jessica

Champion.

2.7. Smallholder Dairy Research Group (SDRG) – by Dr. John VanLeeuwen

The Smallholder Dairy Research Group conducts a dairy research, teaching and service program

involving graduate students in epidemiology, veterinarians, veterinary students and other

animal health professionals, and smallholder dairy farmers. The program is a result of

partnerships among Nairobi and CVER faculty members and students, two Canadian non-

governmental organizations (Farmers Helping Farmers, and Veterinarians without Borders-

Canada), and dairy farmer groups primarily in Kenya. University collaborators have also

included faculty members from Dalhousie and Ryerson in Canada, Bristol in the U.K, and

Egerton in Kenya. Research topics have investigated methods of enhancing milk productivity

(through infectious disease control and dairy health management), and how dairy farming and

higher milk production have improved sustainable livelihoods and quality of life.

The past year was a very successful one for the program. A trip to Kenya in winter achieved its

objectives of teaching dairy health management to Canadian and Kenyan animal health

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 12

professionals and smallholder dairy farmers. The trip was also utilized to check up on research

project analyses and reports, and to disseminate research findings for knowledge transfer.

A second trip to Kenya in summer completed phase

two of observational and randomized controlled trial

studies on post-partum cow nutritional enhancement

and neonatal calf nutritional enhancement, with and

without agroforestry augmentation, involving 110

farms. A large team of 8 members worked on these

studies, along with 2 other projects. With the biweekly

monitoring of the trials, the team also conducted

studies on the incidence rates of subclinical mastitis in

post-partum cows and on the incidence rates of

infections with various neonatal calf diarrhea pathogens, along with how nutrition influenced

the incidence and severity of the diarrhea and mastitis. Drs. Jeff Wichtel, Collins Kamunde,

Fabienne Uehlinger (now at U of Bristol) and George Gitau (U Nairobi) are faculty collaborating

on these projects. There are two other ongoing research projects: a cohort study on infectious

causes and risk factors of bovine abortion, and a case-control study on factors of bovine

tuberculosis. There are currently 4 Kenyan graduate students and one Canadian graduate

student (Dr. Shauna Richards – see photo on left) working on these Kenyan projects.

Funding from the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre was announced in 2013 for a cow

comfort observational and clinical trial project among smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya, to be

conducted in 2014. Dr. Shawn McKenna is also collaborating on this project.

3. New Faculty

Dr. Luke Heider, a former graduate of the Atlantic Veterinary

College in 1999, joined CVER and the AVC’s health management

team in January 2013. Dr. Heider began his career in a large dairy

practice in Reedsville, Wisconsin, before he moved to mixed animal

practice with a focus on dairy cattle. In 2004, he started his PhD at

the Ohio State University, investigating the role of ceftiofur use on

dairy farms and the emergence of Salmonella and E.coli with

reduced susceptibility to ceftiofur mediated by the β-lactamase

gene, CMY-2. In 2008, he was hired by Ohio State University,

Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, as a clinical

instructor to teach veterinary and undergraduate students about

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 13

dairy cattle, dairy production and veterinary public health. In 2011, he completed his PhD

degree and continued with the department until he accepted his current position here at AVC

as a contract assistant professor in farm service. Luke will also be mentoring graduate student

Babafela Oluwasile with Dr. J McClure. Luke is married to Dr. Chelsea Martin, a veterinary

pathologist in the Path/Micro department here at AVC, and he is a father to two sons, Sam and

Ian. Welcome Luke!

Dr. Javier Sanchez, who has been working with CVER and Health Management as a Research

Chair in Risk in Analysis, accepted a fulltime tenure-track faculty position with the Department

of Health Management. Javier has played an integral role in both CRVE-net and the CVER team,

and we are very pleased he will continue to do so.

4. Special Guests

CVER was very excited to welcome Dr. Ana Alba Casals, a Doctoral

Research Fellow from Spain in the spring of 2013. Dr. Casals works as a

Veterinary Epidemiologist in Spain, and has a special interest in

designing surveillance and contingency plans, health information

systems, epidemiological data analysis, epidemiological training, and

geographical information systems applied to animal health of different

species, including livestock, wildlife, horses, and companion animals.

She visited CVER at the invitation of Dr. Crawford Revie, from early

April until the end of June 2013.

It was a great pleasure to have hosted a professor on sabbatical at

CVER during the fall of 2013, Dr. Mike McGowan, a professor of

livestock medicine in the School of Veterinary Science at the

University of Queensland. While here, he participated in the

VHM811 Epi 1 graduate course, gave lectures to the AVC bovine club,

and developed working relationships with a number of CVER faculty

members for current projects of his, and for possible future projects.

AVC and CVER truly benefited from his time here. We hope to see

him again someday. G’day mate.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 14

5. Awards and Recognition

In 2004, Dr. Javier Sanchez, a faculty member for CVER and

Health Management received the Governor General’s medal

when he accepted his PhD graduate degree from the AVC.

Ten years later, his first graduate student, Dr. Fernanda

Dorea completed her PhD and received the same Governor

General’s medal for graduate studies at UPEI’s convocation.

Dorea has been invited by the National Veterinary Institute in

Sweden to work at the Swedish Zoonosis Centre, where she

is developing a similar system for early disease detection.

Drs. Larry Hammell and John VanLeeuwen were

presented with Presidential Recognition Awards of

Merit for Scholarly Endeavours in May 2013 from Dr.

Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, President and Vice-Chancellor of

UPEI. Drs. Elizabeth Spangler and Jeffrey Davidson

were also recognized at the ceremony for 25 years of

service at the AVC.

Dr. Henrik Stryhn was awarded one of three Merit Awards for Scholarly

Achievement given by the UPEI Faculty Association. This award is

intended to honor faculty members in scholarly research, and in doing

so, inspires others to do the same. Dr. Stryhn was also presented with

the Pfizer Research Excellence Award at the Graduate Studies and

Research Days Awards Ceremony. This award recognizes an individual

with outstanding research effort and productivity in their field of research.

Dr. Alice Crook, coordinator of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre at

AVC, received the PEI Veterinary Medical Association’s Leadership Award in

2013. The award, the highest given by the PEIVMA, recognizes a

veterinarian’s strong career of achievement and dedication to the

profession, PEI community, and health and welfare of animals.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 15

6. Graduate Program Highlights

Dr. Shauna Richards, a CVER Ph.D. student, received the G Murray and Hazel Hagerman

Scholarship, given to the student with the highest marks in graduate courses at AVC.

The Pfizer Graduate Student Award was presented to Dr. Marguerite Cameron, one of CVER’s

PhD students. This award goes to a student whose project is currently in progress, to help in the

quest to receive his/her graduate degree in veterinary medical research.

Dr. Carrie Lavers, also a CVER PhD student, was award the Dr. E. Errol Hancock Scholarship

which goes to the student from Nova Scotia with the highest academic standing.

The OGS Award of Distinction is to recognize a convocating graduate student from AVC who

made outstanding contributions to his/her faculty, university and discipline. The 2013 recipient

was also the Governor General Award winner, Dr. Fernanda Dorea.

The Dr. Ian Dohoo award, which was initiated in 2012, is

granted to a student currently registered in the graduate

Epidemiology/Health Management discipline at the AVC. The

award will help with travel expenses for the recipient’s work

at national or international conferences and this year was

awarded to Omid Nekouei Jahromi.

One of CVER master’s students, Matthew Saab, won second prize for graduate student

presentations for his oral presentation “Selective medium increases apparent prevalence of

extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistant Escherichia coli in Canadian swine herds” at the

CAVEPM conference held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Matthew’s supervisor is Dr. Jay McClure.

In 2013, two students successfully defended their PhDs:

Dr. Fernanda Dorea completed her PhD under the supervision of Drs. Jay McClure, Crawford

Revie and Javier Sanchez. Her thesis was titled “Developing and implementing techniques to

harvest surveillance information from existing veterinary diagnostic laboratory data.”

Dr. David McIver completed his PhD under the supervision of Drs. John Vanleeuwen, Collins

Kamunde, David Fleming (Mt. Allison U), and Judy Read Guernsey (Dalhousie U). His thesis was

titled “Biomonitoring of Arsenic Species in Rural Nova Scotia Communities.”

Currently, CVER has 24 graduate students, 9 enrolled in their MSc and 15 students working

toward their PhD.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 16

7. Outreach - Some examples of these key initiatives are as follows.

Epi-on-the Island

CVER hosted its annual Epi-on-the-Island

conference in June at the AVC. This popular course

had participants from Chile, Iran, Scotland, Nepal,

Ireland, Spain, Columbia, Thailand and the USA.

This year, the conference had 3 modules. The first

was an introduction to Bayesian Risk Assessment

taught by Curtis L. Smith, PhD, Distinguished Staff Engineer of the Idaho National Laboratory,

along with AVC’s Drs. Javier Sanchez and Henrik Stryhn.

The second module was held over a 5-day period and had 23 participants engaged in a course

entitled "An Introduction to Multilevel Modeling." This section was taught by the following

CVER faculty members: Drs. Ian Dohoo, Henrik Stryhn, and Javier Sanchez.

The third and final module featured a course entitled "Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery –

an introductory course with focus on veterinary epidemiology applications", and instructed by

CVER’s own Drs. Fernanda Dórea and Crawford Revie.

International Teaching

Although a year into retirement, Dr. Ian Dohoo kept busy traveling to Massey University in

Palmerston North, New Zealand, to teach a course in Multilevel modelling in March 2013. In

April, he taught an observational study design and analysis workshop at the International

Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. Finally he travelled to Norway in October to

conduct a one-day workshop on meta-analysis.

Also in March 2013, Drs. Crawford Revie and Fernanda Dorea conducted a workshop in Madrid,

Spain on Data Mining and Machine Learning: What’s their relevance to a veterinary

Epidemiologist? This workshop was part of the Society of Veterinary Epidemiology and

Preventative Medicine (SVEPM) conference.

AVC`s aquatic animal health experts who are collaborative partners with the Norwegian

Veterinary Institute to form ERAAAD, the Center for Epidemiology and Risk Assessment for

Aquatic Animal Diseases gave workshops in Portugal, Lebanon and Mexico on various topics

related to aquatic animal diseases. The organization was also involved in the implementation of

a 3-day workshop on certifying disease status for safe trade in aquaculture at the World

Workshop on Evidence-Based Disease Control in Salmon Aquaculture, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 17

8. Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

1. Arens AM, Puchalski SM, Whitcomb MB, Bell R, Gardner IA, Stover, S. Comparison of the

use of scapular ultrasonography, physical examination, and measurement of serum

biomarkers of bone turnover versus scintigraphy for detection of bone fragility

syndrome in horses. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2013

2. Berger JM, Spier SJ, Davies R, Gardner IA, Leutenegger CM, Bain M. Behavioral and

physiological responses of weaned foals treated with equine appeasing pheromone: A

double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Journal of Veterinary Behavior:

Clinical Applications and Research. 2013.

3. Cameron M, Keefe GP, Roy JP, Dohoo IR, MacDonald KA, McKenna SL. Evaluation of a

3M petrifilm on-farm culture system for the detection of intramammary infection at the

end of lactation. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

4. Cox R, Sanchez J, Revie CW. Multi-criteria decision analysis tools for prioritising

emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases associated with climate change in Canada.

Public Library of Sciences. 2013, August 7.

5. Crafford JE, Lourens CW, Gardner IA, Maclachlan NJ, Guthrie AJ. Passive transfer and

rate of decay of maternal antibody against African horse sickness virus in south African

thoroughbred foals. Equine Veterinary Journal. 2013.

6. Dohoo C, Guernsey J, Gibson MD, Vanleeuwen J. Impact of biogas digesters on

cookhouse volatile organic compound exposure for rural Kenyan farmwomen. Journal of

Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. 2013, July 31.

7. Dohoo C, VanLeeuwen J, Guernsey JR, Critchley K, Gibson M. Impact of biogas digesters

on wood utilisation and self-reported back pain for women living on rural Kenyan

smallholder dairy farms. Global Public Health. 2013.

8. Dohoo IR. Bias-is it a problem, and what should we do? Preventive Veterinary Medicine.

2013

9. Dórea FC, Muckel CA, Kelton D, McClure JT, McEwen BJ, McNab WB, Sanchez J, Revie

CW. Exploratory analysis of methods for automated classification of laboratory test

orders into syndromic groups in veterinary medicine. Public Library of Sciences. 2013.

10. Dórea FC, Revie CW, McEwen BJ, McNab WB, Kelton D, Sanchez J. Retrospective time

series analysis of veterinary laboratory data: Preparing a historical baseline for cluster

detection in syndromic surveillance. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 18

11. Dórea FC, McEwen BJ, McNab WB, Revie CW, Sanchez J. Syndromic surveillance using

veterinary laboratory data: data pre-processing and algorithm performance evaluation.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2013, April 10.

12. Dórea FC, McEwen BJ, McNab WB, Sanchez J, Revie CW. Syndromic surveillance using

veterinary laboratory data: algorithm combination and customization of alerts. Public

Library of Sciences. 2013, December 11.

13. Dorjee S, Poljak Z, Revie CW, Bridgland J, McNab B, Leger E, Sanchez J. A review of

simulation modelling approaches used for the spread of zoonotic influenza viruses in

animal and human populations. Zoonoses Public Health. 2013, September.

14. Dorjee S, Revie CW, Poljak Z, McNab WB, Sanchez J. Network analysis of swine

shipments in Ontario, Canada, to support disease spread modelling and risk-based

disease management. Preventative Veterinary Medicine. 2013, October 1.

15. Dufour S, Dohoo IR. Monitoring herd incidence of intramammary infection in lactating

cows using repeated longitudinal somatic cell count measurements. Journal of Dairy

Science. 2013

16. Dufour S, Dohoo IR. Relationship between herd intramammary infection incidence and

elimination rate during the dry period. Journal of Dairy Science. 2013.

17. Elmoslemany A, Whyte SK, Revie CW, Hammell KL. Sea lice monitoring on Atlantic

salmon farms in New Brunswick, Canada: comparing audit and farm staff counts.

Journal of Fish Diseases. 2013.

18. Falzon LC, Menzies PI, Shakya KP, Jones-Bitton A, Vanleeuwen J, Avula J, Jansen JT,

Peregrine AS, A longitudinal study on the effect of lambing season on the periparturient

egg rise in Ontario sheep flocks. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

19. Falzon LC, Menzies PI, Vanleeuwen J, Jones-Bitton A, Shakya, KP, Avula J, Jansen JT,

Peregrine A S. A survey of farm management practices and their associations with

anthelmintic resistance in sheep flocks in Ontario, Canada. Small Ruminant Research.

2013.

20. Falzon LC, Menzies PI, Shakya KP, Jones-Bitton A, Vanleeuwen J, Avula J, Stewart H,

Jansen JT, Taylor MA, Learmount J, Peregrine AS. Anthelmintic resistance in sheep flocks

in Ontario, Canada. Veterinary Parasitology. 2013.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 19

21. Gitau GK, Bundi RM, Vanleeuwen J, Mulei CM. Evaluation of PetrifilmsTM as a diagnostic

test to detect bovine mastitis organisms in Kenya. Tropical Animal Health and

Production. 2013

22. Gomez DE, Lofstedt J, Stämpfli HR, Wichtel M, Muirhead T, McClure JT. Contribution of

unmeasured anions to Acid-base disorders and its association with altered demeanor in

264 calves with neonatal diarrhea. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. 2013, Nov.

23. Groner ML, Cox R, Gettinby G, Revie CW. Use of agent-based modelling to predict

benefits of cleaner fish in controlling sea lice, lepeophtheirus salmonis, infestations on

farmed atlantic salmon, salmo salar L. Journal of Fish Diseases. 2013.

24. Guthrie AJ, MacLachlan NJ, Joone C, Lourens CW, Weyer CT, Quan M, Gardner IA

Diagnostic accuracy of a duplex real-time reverse transcription quantitative PCR assay

for detection of african horse sickness virus. Journal of Virological Methods. 2013.

25. Jeske JM, Spier SJ, Whitcomb MB, Pusterla N, Gardner IA. Use of antibody titers

measured via serum synergistic hemolysis inhibition testing to predict internal

corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in horses. Journal of the American

Veterinary Medical Association. 2013.

26. Jimenez DF, Revie CW, Hardy SP, Jansen PA, Gettinby G. Multivariate evaluation of the

effectiveness of treatment efficacy of cypermethrin against sea lice (lepeophtheirus

salmonis) in atlantic salmon (salmo salar). BMC Veterinary Research. 2013.

27. Jones PG, Hammell KL, Gettinby G, Revie CW. Detection of emamectin benzoate

tolerance emergence in different life stages of sea lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, on

farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Journal of Fish Diseases. 2013.

28. Kabaka WM, Gitau GK, Kitala PM, Maingi N, Vanleeuwen JA. Risk factors associated with

gastrointestinal nematode infections of cattle in Nakuru and Mukurweini districts of

Kenya. Bulletin of Animal Health and Production in Africa. 2013.

29. Kent ML, Benda S, St-Hilaire S, Schreck CB. Sensitivity and specificity of histology for

diagnoses of four common pathogens and detection of nontarget pathogens in adult

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in fresh water. Journal of Veterinary

Diagnostic Investigation. 2013, May.

30. Koop G, Collar CA, Toft N, Nielen M, Werven T, Bacon D, Gardner IA. Risk factors for

subclinical intramammary infection in dairy goats in two longitudinal field studies

evaluated by bayesian logistic regression. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 20

31. Kristoffersen AB, Rees EE, Stryhn H, Ibarra R, Campisto JL, Revie CW, St-Hilaire S.

Understanding sources of sea lice for salmon farms in Chile. Preventive Veterinary

Medicine. 2013, August 1.

32. Krkošek M, Revie CW, Gargan PG, Skilbrei OT, Finstad B, Todd CD. Impact of parasites on

salmon recruitment in the northeast atlantic ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society of

London.Series B, Biological Sciences. 2013.

33. Krkosek M, Revie CW, Finstad B, Todd CD. Comment on jackson et al. 'impact of

lepeophtheirus salmonis infestations on migrating atlantic salmon, salmo salar L., smolts

at eight locations in ireland with an analysis of lice-induced marine mortality'. Journal of

Fish Diseases. 2013.

34. Lavers CJ, McKenna SL, Dohoo IR, Barkema HW, Keefe GP. Evaluation of environmental

fecal culture for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis detection in dairy

herds and association with apparent within-herd prevalence. Canadian Veterinary

Journal. 2013, November.

35. Lombard JE, Gardner IA, Jafarzadeh SR, Fossler, CP, Harris B, Capsel RT, Johnson WO.

Herd-level prevalence of mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection in

united states dairy herds in 2007. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

36. McInnis-Perry Gloria, Weeks Lori E, Stryhn Henrik. Age and Gender Differences in

Emotional and Infomrational Social Support Insufficiency for Older Adults in Atlantic

Canada. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research. 2013, December.

37. McMillan FD, Serpell JA, Duffy DL, Masaoud E, Dohoo IR. Differences in behavioral

characteristics between dogs obtained as puppies from pet stores and those obtained

from noncommercial breeders. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

2013.

38. McNiven MA, Quijon PA, Mitchell AW, Ramsey A, St-Hilaire S. Composition and

distribution of the European green crab in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Open Journal

of Animal Sciences. 2013.

39. Meagher DM, Bromberek JL, Meagher DT, Gardner IA, Puchalski SM, Stover SM.

Prevalence of abnormal radiographic findings in 2-year-old thoroughbreds at in-training

sales and associations with racing performance. Journal of the American Veterinary

Medical Association. 2013.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 21

40. Morley PS, Anderson ME, Burgess BA, Aceto H, Bender JB, Clark C, Daniels JB, Davis MA,

Hinchcliff KW, Johnson JR, McClure J, Perkins GA, Pusterla N, Traub-Dargatz JL, Weese

JS, Whittem TL. Report on the third Havemeyer workshop on infection control in equine

populations. Equine Veterinary Journal. 2013, March.

41. Nielsen LR, Dohoo IR. Time-to-event analysis of predictors for recovery from salmonella

dublin infection in danish dairy herds between 2002 and 2012. Preventive Veterinary

Medicine. 2013.

42. Oidtmann B, Lapatra SE, Verner-Jeffreys D, Pond M, Peeler EJ, Noguera PA, Bruno DW,

St-Hilaire S, Schubiger CB, Snekvik K, Crumlish M, Green DM, Metselaar M, Rodger H,

Schmidt-Posthaus H, Galeotti M, Feist SW. Differential characterization of emerging skin

diseases of rainbow trout--a standardized approach to capturing disease characteristics

and development of case definitions. Journal of Fish Diseases. 2013, November.

43. O'Neil E, Horney B, Burton S, Lewis PJ, MacKenzie A, Stryhn H. Comparison of wet-

mount, wright-giemsa and gram-stained urine sediment for predicting bacteriuria in

dogs and cats. Canadian Veterinary Journal. 2013.

44. Patanasatienkul T, Sanchez J, Rees EE, Krkosek M, Jones SR, Revie CW. Sea lice

infestations on juvenile chum and pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, Canada,

from 2003 to 2012. Diseases for Aquatic Organisms. 2013, July 22.

45. Radtke CL, Nino-Fong R, Gonzalez BPE, Stryhn H, McDuffee LA. Characterization and

osteogenic potential of equine muscle tissue- and periosteal tissue-derived

mesenchymal stem cells in comparison with bone marrow- and adipose tissue-derived

mesenchymal stem cells. American Journal of Veterinary Research. 2013.

46. Reyher KK, Dohoo IR, Muckle CA. Evaluation of clustering of new intramammary

infections in the bovine udder, including the impact of previous infections, herd

prevalence, and somatic cell count on their development. Journal of Dairy Science.

47. Rogers LA, Peacock SJ, McKenzie P, DeDominicis S, Jones SRM, Chandler P, Foreman

MGG, Revie CW, Krkošek M. Modeling parasite dynamics on farmed salmon for

precautionary conservation of wild salmon. Public Library of Sciences. 2013.

48. Saini V, McClure JT, Scholl DT, DeVries TJ, Barkema HW. Herd-level relationship between

antimicrobial use and presence or absence of antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative

bovine mastitis pathogens on Canadian dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science. 2013,

August.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 22

49. Silverstone AM, Hammell L. Spinal deformities in farmed Atlantic salmon. Canadian

Veterinary Journal. 2002, October.

50. Stewart-Clark S, Davidson J, Greenwood, SJ. Optimization and Validation of Molecular

Assays for Invasive Tunicate Monitoring in Environmental Water Samples. Aquatic

Science and Technology. 2013.

51. Stewart-Clark S, Davidson J, Greenwood SJ. Monitoring for propagules of Ciona

intestinalis in marine water samples:the development of temporal gene expression

markers for viability and life stage specific assays. Management of Biological Invasions.

Volume 4, Issue 3. 2013.

52. Stryhn H, Christensen J. The analysis-Hierarchical models: Past, present and future.

Preventative Veterinary Medicine. 2013, Oct 12.

53. Todd CT, Whyte BDM, MacLean JC, Revie CW, Longergan ME, and Hanson NN. A simple

method of dating marine growth circuli on scales of wild one sea-winter and two sea-

winter Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic

Sciences. 2013.

54. Tuševljak N, Dutil L, Rajić A, Uhland FC, McClure C, St-Hilaire S, Reid-Smith RJ, McEwen

SA. Antimicrobial use and resistance in aquaculture: findings of a globally administered

survey of aquaculture-allied professionals. Zoonoses Public Health. 2013, September.

55. Uehlinger FD, Greenwood SJ, McClure JT, Conboy G, O'Handley R, Barkema HW.

Zoonotic potential of Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. and prevalence of

intestinal parasites in young dogs from different populations on Prince Edward Island,

Canada. Veterinary Parasitology. 2013, September 23.

56. Vallance SA, Entwistle RC, Hitchens PL, Gardner IA, Stover SM. Case-control study of

high-speed exercise history of thoroughbred and quarter horse racehorses that died

related to a complete scapular fracture. Equine Veterinary Journal. 2013.

57. Vanderstichel R , Dohoo I , Sanchez J , Sithole F , Keefe G , Stryhn H, Predicting the effect

of anthelmintic treatment on milk production of dairy cattle in Canada using an

Ostertagia ostertagi ELISA from individual milk samples. Preventive veterinary medicine.

2013.

58. Vanderstichel R, Christensen J, Stryhn H, Hurnik D. Standards for reporting surveillance

information in freedom from infection models by example of Trichinella in Canadian

market hogs. Preventative Veterinary Medicine. 2013, August 1.

CVER Annual Report 2013 Page 23

59. Whyte, SK, Westcott JD, Elmoslemany A, Hammell KL, Revie CW. A fixed-dose approach

to conducting emamectin benzoate tolerance assessments on field-collected sea lice,

Lepeophtheirus salmonis. Journal of Fish Diseases. 2013.

60. Willis JE, McClure JT, McClure C, Davidson J, Greenwood SJ. Global occurrence of

Cryptosporidium and Giardia in shellfish: Should Canada take a closer look? Food

Research International, 2013.

61. Young I, Waddell L, Sanchez J, Wilhelm B, McEwen SA, Rajić A. The application of

knowledge synthesis methods in agri-food public health: Recent advancements,

challenges and opportunities. Preventative Veterinary Medicine. 2013, November 24.

9. Books/Book Chapters

1. Crook A. 2013. Pain: An Issue of Animal Welfare. In: Egger C, Love L, Doherty T, eds. Pain Management in Veterinary Practice. Wiley-Blackwell, 3-8.

2. VanLeeuwen JA et al. 2013. Handbook for Kenya Dairy Farmers - 3rd Edition. Published by Farmers Helping Farmers. 2014. Charlottetown, PEI, Canada. Pp 1-73.